The Geography of Dictatorship and Support for Democracy

María Angélica Bautista, Felipe González, Luis R. Martínez, Pablo Muñoz and Mounu Prem
Additional contact information
María Angélica Bautista: University of Chicago, Harris School of Public Policy
Felipe González: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Instituto de Economía
Luis R. Martínez: University of Chicago, Harris School of Public Policy
Pablo Muñoz: University of California Berkeley, Department of Economics
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Pablo Muñoz Henriquez

No 298, HiCN Working Papers from Households in Conflict Network

Abstract: We study whether exposure to the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in Chile (1973-1990) affected political attitudes and behavior, exploiting the plausibly exogenous location of military bases shortly before the coup that brought Pinochet to power. We show that residents of counties housing military bases both registered to vote and voted “No” to Pinochet’s continuation in power at higher rates in the crucial 1988 plebiscite that bolstered the democratic transition. Counties with military bases also experienced substantially more civilian deaths during the dictatorship, suggesting that increased exposure to repression is an important mechanism driving the larger rates of political participation and regime opposition. Evidence from survey responses and elections after democratization shows that military presence led to long-lasting support for democracy without changing political ideologies or electoral outcomes.

Keywords: dictatorship; repression; democratization; human rights (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 N46 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm, nep-his, nep-pol and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Geography of Dictatorship and Support for Democracy (2019)
Working Paper: The Geography of Dictatorship and Support for Democracy (2019)
Working Paper: The Geography of Dictatorship and Support for Democracy (2019)
Working Paper: The Geography of Repression and Support for Democracy: Evidence from the Pinochet Dictatorship (2018)
Working Paper: The Geography of Repression and Support for Democracy: Evidence from the Pinochet Dictatorship (2018)
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